AMERICAN-INDIAN ART
AMERICAN-INDIAN ART
Also known as Native American Art
Includes Water, Oil and Sand Painting,
Leather, Wood, Pottery and Baskets.
Boundless and sacred.
Artistic expression has been a way to
worship the gods.
AMERICAN-INDIAN ART
Art for art's sake is not part of the
Indian psyche.
Their artistic designs have beauty and
care motivated by their love for nature.
Each native art object they made had
a specific purpose.
AMERICAN-INDIAN ART
Obvious appreciation for nature permeates their
Indian pottery, paintings, baskets, leather work,
sand paintings, crafts, moccasins and wood
carving.
AMERICAN-INDIAN ART
Native Americans created many shapes and
geometric designs for their art and these
were repeated and became representative
symbols that transcended tribal language
barriers.
HISTORY
HISTORY
American Indian art history has developed
over thousands of years and consists of
several distinctive styles from the
distinguishing cultures of diverse Indian
tribes (From Navajo to Hopi to Plains
Indians).
HISTORY
Each tribe has a unique history, which
consists of many types of Native
American Indian arts including
beadwork, jewelry, weaving, basketry,
pottery, carvings, kachinas, masks,
totem poles, drums, flutes, pipes, dolls
and more.
HISTORY
Native American art history can be traced back to
cave painting, stonework and earthenware
thousands of years ago.
The types of materials used by Native Americans
has evolved from rocks and feathers to cloth,
clay, turquoise, silver, glass and fabric; each
piece of art reveals intricacies of the diverse
indigenous people.
Important symbols in most Native American
art history include the sun, moon, bears,
eagles or people.
Pendants and statues were often created to
symbolize and honor Mother Nature.
HISTORY
Native American lifestyle can generally be
divided into two categories.
1) Sedentary farmers (include the Hopi, the
Zuni, the Yaqui and the Yuma).
2) Nomadic (including the Southwestern tribes
such as the Navajo and the Apache).
SEDENTARY FARMERS
These tribes grew crops like corn, beans and
squash.
They lived in permanent settlements known as
pueblos that were built of stone and adobe that
resembled something like modern-day
apartments.
At their centers, many of these villages also had
large ceremonial pit houses, or kivas
NOMADIC
Known as hunters and gatherers these tribes
survived by gathering and raiding their more
established neighbors for their crops.
Because these groups were always on the move,
their homes were much less permanent than the
pueblos.
CULTURE AND BELIEFS
Sacred beliefs of American Indians hold
that everything living or inanimate shares
a place in the universe, and that no one
thing is above the other.
They were the
first ecologically aware people anywhere,
long before pollution became a serious
and popular issue.
CULTURE AND BELIEFS
Native Americans were also the first to
create implements with beauty, and each
native art object they made had a
specific purpose.
Animals they killed
were for clothing, tools and food, never
for sport.
CULTURE AND BELIEFS
Everything in Native American culture is considered
to contain a spirit.
Everything has ties to nature and is thought
through and carefully produced.
From native plants and animals to housing to the
weather became a part of the culture in Indian
life.
Animals are revered as spirits and although they were
hunted and killed, their skins and hides are used as
clothing and drums, their meat is never wasted and
their spirits live on in the mind of the tribes.
Plants are cultivated and harvested, and used for various
things such as dyes for blankets.
CULTURE AND BELIEFS
The rain and sun are considered to be gods, giving a sign
to the Indians as the seasons change.
Totem poles, large wooden poles carved with various
animals are used to represent family members, loved
ones who passed away and spiritual beings.
People were assigned spirit animals and that are often
reflected in the totem pole.